Digital Marketing Strategies Every Jewelry Business Needs In 2018

With the emergence and acceptance of online shopping for fine jewelry in the last decade, it’s crucial that every jewelry business has an online presence. And that’s just the start – an analysis by McKinsey & Company reveals that shopping for jewelry will become even more competitive with a total of 12% of all sales processed through online channels by 2020. That’s a whopping increase of 200% from 6% in 2014!

So how can you maximize your jewelry business’ potential in this rapidly growing space of e-commerce?

Don’t worry as we’ve got you covered! For this blog post, Picup Media has teamed up with Dallas Shipp from The Jewelry Marketer. Dallas specializes in digital solutions catered to jewelry businesses and he has generously shed some light on some of the key digital marketing strategies he utilizes successfully with his clients. Check them out below:  

“The key for the jewelry business that jewelers must take into account these days, is that even if people don’t make a purchase online, the vast majority of jewelry customers spend hours researching a jewelry purchase before they ever walk into a jewelry store or setup an appointment with anyone. The key for us is finding those people who are searching online, and funnelling them to our clients’ various offers online. We use tools to help them with their buying decision, while at the same time, earning their trust as they prepare to make a very large financial commitment.” 

— Dallas Shipp, The Jewelry Marketer

1. Database Reactivation & Analysis

Database reactivation is the maximization of an existing client database. This involves analysis of an existing database of clients for trends, and ranking of clients in order of most valuable to least valuable. With the data organized, automated follow-up systems are used to reach out to previous customers for the optimal results e.g. for Christmas gifts, anniversary gifts, birthday gifts, etc.

2. Web traffic  

One of the biggest secondary pieces of database reactivation is being able to take what we know about our current clients, from the most valuable client we’ve ever had to the smallest of clients, and use that data to be able to target similar individuals online through paid social media, Google, and other online strategies.

3. Lead Nurturing & Follow Up Processes

Getting the information together in actionable datasets is just the first piece of the puzzle that we work on for our clients. What really sets The Jewelry Marketer apart is the follow-up system that we’ve put in place. It’s one thing to deliver leads to our clients, which honestly, have become a commodity among marketing agencies in the last few years. It’s a whole other system entirely when we use automated nurturing tools to warm those leads up with text messages, emails, and even voicemails before the customer ever speaks to anyone in the store. This has tripled many of our clients’ close ratios, and for some, even quadrupled their in-store close ratio. Many jewelers simply don’t have the right steps in place to follow up on a consistent basis with leads, and if they are following up, they’re not measuring it as part of the marketing and sales system. This is a huge step in the sales funnel that many people see instant results from when working with The Jewelry Marketer.

4. Steady Social Engagement

We also provide turnkey social media engagement with regular posts on Instagram and Facebook. This is where the lightboxes really come into play so customers can share the absolute best possible photographs and videos of their jewelry from our clients. We’ve found that photography can be the biggest difference for our clients because jewelry is a completely aspirational purchase. People don’t look at jewelry and think, “yeah, I want the kind-of-okay diamond ring.” They want the biggest and best diamond that really pops. Photography is a key element to sharing our clients’ capabilities, and for the ones who have started using the lightbox, they’ve seen a dramatic difference in the engagement levels of their photos.

On a side note, one of the things that we didn’t even plan on with our first client who used the lightbox was customers wanting to take photos and videos of their jewelry at the time of pickup. They love to get a high-resolution video of it spinning on the turntable, as well as still photos, that they can share on their own personal Facebook and Instagram accounts, leading to more referrals as well.

Conversion Strategies

While it is important that your marketing efforts effectively and efficiently capture and push your newly generated leads down the sales funnel, you ultimately want to convert them into sales. There’s nothing worse than wasting your hard work and money if your customers don’t check out!

The single most important factor why your jewelry e-commerce page may not be converting leads into sales is due to the quality of your images. Statistically, 75% of all online sales are lost due to poor images. So what can you do to ensure you’re maximizing your conversion rates?

Only use studio-quality images for your primary photo

First impressions are lasting impressions. Your customers should be able to understand what you are selling the moment they visit a product page on your website. Don’t confuse them – show them exactly what they are going to buy as clearly as possible so it’ll increase the chances of them actually going to your product page and looking at your jewelry. The best way is to shoot your jewelry on a clean, non-distracting background such as white, black or grey. You can read more about shooting jewelry on different backgrounds in this post here.

Include multiple angles

There’s a reason why online marketplaces allow sellers to list many product photos. It’s because more product photos mean that there’s less chance you’re hiding flaws in your products. This is more important when it comes to high-value goods such as jewelry. Customers want to see the intricate designs from all angles and they need to be reassured through great product photography. Take Etsy for example, for every product listing, you can upload up to 10 photos. They even go as far as suggesting the type of photos you should use to maximize your chances of selling your jewelry products. So when a marketplace suggests uploading a certain number of images, take their advice!

Wow your customers with a 360-degree video

As an extension to the shooting multiple angles, a 360-degree product view can even further reduce the bounce rate from your product page by allowing customers to see in full detail your jewelry products. The statistics are that in fact, 91% of surveyed shoppers have long been demanding an interactive and immersive experience from retailers. Did you know that it also plays a big role in your jewelry business even if you’re primarily a brick and mortar store? The statistic shows that 81% of shoppers conduct product research online before making big in-store purchases.

If you have to go out of your traditional way to show them every single detail of your product, do so, so you can lock their attention or make them visit your physical store. Provide them with product information as visual and as convenient as possible. 79% of Shoppers love the feeling of empowerment every time they find the product information they need using technology. Make sure always to deliver.

Write creative product descriptions to humanize your product

Humans have a tendency to humanize everything – it’s a trait that you should use to your advantage.

Humanizing in the context of e-commerce involves creating an emotional connection with a non-human entity. With no humans in sight for an online store, visitors will have to rely on the other aspects of your website, including your website navigation and jewelry product photography and descriptions.

As with other people, humans tend to forget things the same way they remember things. The better the impression, the longer you’ll stay in the back in the mind. In other words, once your products have made the emotional connection and the emotional barriers are broken, the willingness to purchase becomes much easier.

Now to humanize your jewelry products, you need to choose words that represent you and your brand while breathing life and stimulating the customers’ senses.

In the example below, Uncommon Goods wrote a product description that encompasses the story behind the product, the product details, and introduces the maker. The story was written in a way that stimulates a sense of sentimentality and romance – an element that may encourage the shopper to think of the loved one whom they’d want to give it to. When you humanize your product, you make them see the point of why they should give your money to you.

And there you have it! Optimize your sales funnel from top to bottom through digital marketing and good photography and your jewelry business will thrive.

If you haven’t checked out our blog on the 9 Undeniable Signs You Need Help With Jewelry Photography. We highly suggest you do so right after this post.